Technological progress is marching on, but I still find the lack of focus on lowering the weight a bit disappointing. I'm looking at more than 10 years of progress and still an ultraportable from the yearly 2000 weight more or less the same as a brand-new laptop.
It's mostly due to batteries. As batteries get better, their energy density increases. But instead of putting the same capacity batteries in newer laptops, they use the same size batteries that have higher capacity. Weight remains mostly stagnant as a result.
Yeah sometimes you just need something that works like a Chromebook. I can just imagine a classroom of Windows machines all waiting for updates to finish installing...
Updates is the biggest Achilles heel of Windows now IMO. It's the number one thing my customers complain about. "I went to shut down and it then spent hours updating...(insert terrible end result that required them to call me)"
Cynically, you can argue the even Chromebooks are probably going to need security updates because they can be exploited though the Windows Update experience is and has been pretty awful. However, Windows in an enterprise should really be fetching updates from the organizational WSUS and there should be a test group plus other best practices for pushing out hotfixes and service packs. School districts don't always have the resources and IT staffing for that sort of arrangement so Chromebooks are sometimes the only viable alternative.
ChromeOS has support for scattered updates and highest version locks. There is even AD integration support on x86 ChromeOS devices. You can simulate WSUS-like update caching with a web proxy.
On an 11 inch display, 1366x768 isn't that bad. You said it yourself though, its all about costs. Cash-strapped schools are the intended buyers and school administration needs to make every dollar count. There are higher resolution alternatives around, but its likely that educational institutions are mainly purchasing the cheapest models available and that puts the right kind of pull on the supply chain to keep low resolution panels on the market.
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Calista - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Technological progress is marching on, but I still find the lack of focus on lowering the weight a bit disappointing. I'm looking at more than 10 years of progress and still an ultraportable from the yearly 2000 weight more or less the same as a brand-new laptop.jordanclock - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
It's mostly due to batteries. As batteries get better, their energy density increases. But instead of putting the same capacity batteries in newer laptops, they use the same size batteries that have higher capacity. Weight remains mostly stagnant as a result.damianrobertjones - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
"Acer is announcing a new version of their Chromebook 11 focused on education"So why doesn't it run Windows then?
jordanclock - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
What about Windows makes it better for education roles, like in classrooms or libraries, over ChromeOS?jabber - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Yeah sometimes you just need something that works like a Chromebook. I can just imagine a classroom of Windows machines all waiting for updates to finish installing...Updates is the biggest Achilles heel of Windows now IMO. It's the number one thing my customers complain about. "I went to shut down and it then spent hours updating...(insert terrible end result that required them to call me)"
PeachNCream - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Cynically, you can argue the even Chromebooks are probably going to need security updates because they can be exploited though the Windows Update experience is and has been pretty awful. However, Windows in an enterprise should really be fetching updates from the organizational WSUS and there should be a test group plus other best practices for pushing out hotfixes and service packs. School districts don't always have the resources and IT staffing for that sort of arrangement so Chromebooks are sometimes the only viable alternative.jordanclock - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
ChromeOS has support for scattered updates and highest version locks. There is even AD integration support on x86 ChromeOS devices. You can simulate WSUS-like update caching with a web proxy.PeachNCream - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
I knew there was AD support for them, but I wasn't aware it was possible to deploy updates like that. Pretty good stuff!Stochastic - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Why are we still dealing with 1366x768 displays in 2018? I understand that these are low cost machines, but still.PeachNCream - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
On an 11 inch display, 1366x768 isn't that bad. You said it yourself though, its all about costs. Cash-strapped schools are the intended buyers and school administration needs to make every dollar count. There are higher resolution alternatives around, but its likely that educational institutions are mainly purchasing the cheapest models available and that puts the right kind of pull on the supply chain to keep low resolution panels on the market.